straight in a straight line, running back to you
by omgerinlovesloganlerman
Summary: Because though Percy falls a little bit in love with everyone he meets, he's only got one soul mate.


Percy falls a little bit in love with everyone he meets.

* * *

The trigger for Luke is his loyalty to his make-shift family. Though he hates his mother and father, he's made this home inside two girls – these two precious creatures he can't live without. His (brotherly) love for Annabeth saves the entire world and in the moment Percy nearly has to sit down from the aching in his heart – the originally dull, slightly burning numbness in his chest that quickly escalates to a raging forest fire he couldn't even begin to describe. His throat is scratchy when he requests a shroud for the older boy, and doesn't speak once during the funeral, knowing he'll wind up wailing and shrieking in pain.

When Percy eventually makes it to Elysium, the first person he sees is Luke.

* * *

Nico is a tiny, deathly pale ball of anger and resentment that Percy wants to pick up and cuddle into a blanket in front of a fire. His need to be great almost kills him half the time – the shadow travelling being the first example to come to mind – but it's also a wonderful quality found in just about every hero that's ever lived. Nico has no idea Percy knows about this, but every year on Bianca's death-aversary, he takes a trip out to Las Vegas and does all the things they used to do together: play Mythomagic, get frozen yogurt, look at the pictures in the newspaper funnies and make up new dialogue for the characters. He promised not to call Bianca back from the dead and sticks to the oath, not wanting to disappoint his older sister.

Percy watches him dump gummy bears and hot fudge on two cups of plain vanilla yogurt and feels an overwhelming sense of adoration and respect expand inside of him until it's like he could float up off the ground and into outer space.

* * *

Thalia gets to him faster than anyone else had – (If he were ever to voice the fact, he knows Annabeth would pull some line about their similarity and how it's practically like being in love with himself). One only has to watch her in battle, or even just a petty argument, and they'll be shaking in fear. There's a fierceness in her eyes, a blazing determination to succeed, to win, to prevail. She doesn't need to impress anyone but herself and the passion practically radiating from her is enough to empower an entire army. She's terribly stubborn – occasionally obnoxiously so – and refuses to back down. Thalia's a born leader, but one who knows and cares about her followers as well.

Percy doesn't realise that last bit until he sees her calm down a younger Hunter whose sister has just been killed in battle. She manages to soothe the eight year old child and then whispers something in her ear that leaves her smiling and nodding. He vaguely wonders if she was ever like that with Annabeth, and then almost immediately decides that she most definitely was.

* * *

There's a little something in everyone that worms its way inside of him, inside of his heart. Clarisse's self-respect and allegiance to her father and siblings. Beautiful Silena's bravery right to the very end. Rachel's slightly sideways view of the world. Tyson's sincerity. Will's calm nature, able to relax every patient he heals. Travis and Connor's ability to bring light and positivity into every situation. Even Drew's dedication to her reputation as an Aphrodite girl. Each and every one of them is dear to him and he supposes that's what makes losing them so hard – he's always losing a loved one.

* * *

Annabeth, however, crept up on him.

She was always right _there, _too close for him to realise his feelings until it was nearly too late. They fought and bickered and screamed and hurt; they cried and hated and loved and felt; they were two positive charges that somehow managed to break the laws of physics and gravitate towards each other.

It isn't until she takes the poison knife for him that he comprehends how much she actually matters to him. It's the thought that he might have to go on without her in his life that really slaps him in the face. She's lying on the couch, gazing up at him with this _look_ in her eyes and suddenly everything snaps into place – it all makes sense.

It's her stormy eyes and her princess curls and the scar below her thumb. It's her hubris, her need to be the best and build the best and be _important. _It's her love for Luke and for Thalia and for Chiron; it's her irritation directed towards Rachel. It's her mad skills with a knife and brilliance during Capture the Flag. It's her dedication to architecture and attachment to Daedalus' laptop. It's her passion and ferocity and vulnerability. It's the way she screams at him – the way all her emotions pour out through her voice and wrap around his soul. It's how she took a stab for him because her first instinct was _protect Percy. _

She's his anchor, his tether to mortality. She's his absolute best friend – but nothing anywhere near to being like his sister. And he wonders how he hadn't seen it before.

* * *

Because though Percy falls a little bit in love with everyone he meets, he's only got one soul mate.

* * *

**A/N:** my friend is literally a living breathing version of Annabeth and she's found her Percy

* * *

**Disclaimer:** It all belongs to RSquared

* * *

**Note:** I have a bandaged hand and this took approximately three times as long to type as it normally would because I can't fucking move my fingers.


End file.
